Aranda: A Celebration of African Manufacturing

“Last year was a really hard year,” says Marco Magni, Sales and Marketing Director at Aranda, reminiscing on 2020 and the obvious challenges that covered business.  

“It put many of our plans of growth into new areas on hold and we were pretty much in survival mode. This year, we feel better but not where we were pre-Covid. Going forward, we want to carry on with all our growth plans.”  

His optimism and ambition have returned after a warm start to 2021. Aranda, one of the leading textile companies on the continent, is the manufacturer of choice for traditional blankets and throws. Combining Italian heritage with high quality African design and material, Aranda is ready to resume its export activity on the continent.  

Employing a skilled South African work force and utilising modern machinery and proven distribution channels, the company has eyes on corporate clients in the institutional space across the continent, while also rebuilding its presence in the recuperating hospitality industry.  

Currently, Aranda delivers a wide range of products under various house brands including Haven & Earth, My Africa, Basotho Heritage Blankets, as well as their traditional range of blankets and shawls under the Aranda brand. The Aranda Hotel Signature Collection, which includes throws, runners, scatters and blankets, was set for full scale roll out in 2020. 

REGROW, REFRESH  

“We were planning to launch the Hotel Signature Collection around June or July last year but it was all put on ice because the hospitality industry was hit the hardest. We are seeing some positive news now, and we are aware of hospitality developments in Africa and in parts of the Middle East and we would like to get our products there,” says Magni.  

“We are looking for companies and distributors who can help us network into other parts of Africa. We are looking to focus on hospitality and institutional products and we have an opportunity for companies to distribute a great product, made in Africa.”  

By developing new partnerships and being proactive during a time when market conditions are tough, Aranda hopes to build on its success in South Africa and tie more of the continent into valuable relationships.   

Perhaps one of the commonly underappreciated areas of strategy, distribution is an element often closely tied with success for manufacturers. It links into inventory control, costings, sales, image, competitive advantage, optimisation, growth and much more. Typically, Aranda has operated a mixed distribution model with both direct and indirect sales, but there has always been a strict focus on quality. Those that distribute Aranda products must be knowledgeable about the range and experienced in their chosen markets. For Magni, finding partners that share the Aranda culture is vital.  

“We supply many institutional products,” he says. “We are able to manufacture blankets to the South African Bureau of Standards specifications and we offer a variety of products within the blanket category.  

“We would like to push growth in the institutional segments in other parts of Africa. That could be in hospitality or government spec projects. Whether it’s blankets for hospitals, defence forces, police, correctional services – that is where we see growth in Africa.  

“We are looking at growing our online presence from a B2C point of view, as well as B2B. What’s great about this is that you don’t need to have bricks and mortar put up everywhere. You can develop a great online store and reach customers everywhere directly. It’s a small project of which we are in the early stages, but we see great potential,” he adds.  

Like many businesses, in the post-pandemic environment, every Cent must be justified and this is why partnering with distributors in Africa and setting up a digital e-commerce offering locally is an obvious choice. Setting up regional satellite offices across sub-Saharan Africa is expensive, complicated and time consuming. The Aranda strategy is more about first building a presence and then growing share. 

WOVEN INTO SA  

For 68 years, Aranda’s work in the textile sector has been welcome in South Africa. Five generations previously, Marco Magni’s family was working from Italy’s textile heartland – Monte Retaia, Tuscany. Following destruction of the family’s plant during World War II, a chance encounter with a military Colonel, also the Chairman of Barclays Bank SA, encouraged the Magni’s to emigrate to South Africa. In 1951, a piece of land was purchased from a farmer in Randfontein, and Rodolfo, Alberto and Giulio Magni began building their new factory. Today, a modern manufacturing facility sits on the same site, with 11 acres under roof, producing blankets, throws, shawls, and a range of other fabric products.  

For Marco Magni, there is no doubt that Aranda is a South African operation with Italian roots and this heritage will continue.  

“We have been around since 1953 and we are still a family-owned business. We have managed to stay relevant in the market because we have focussed on traditional products as well as constantly developing new products for the home fashion segment,” he says. “Most of the products we manufacture are linked to traditional use or heritage items – that is the core of our business. We also sell to other segments including the formal retail chain stores, independent wholesalers and retailers, the boutique retail industry, the hospitality trade, and many institutional segments. We have developed a number of house brands and we recently launched the My Africa range which is a range of throws inspired by various African cultures. It’s taking inspiration and creating a contemporary design. It’s worked really well, and we have received great interest, both locally and internationally.”  

Aranda’s international appeal was buoyed in 2018 when its blankets were featured in the hugely popular Marvel movie, Black Panther. The movie was viewed as a first real attempt from Hollywood to fully embrace elements of African culture as a theme.  

“We pride ourselves on being the custodians of the Basotho Heritage Blanket brands where we are the sole licensed manufacturer, a position we have held that for the past 30 years. The blanket wearing tradition of the Basotho’s goes back to the late 1800s. These blankets were featured in Black Panther and was wonderful exposure for both Aranda and Lesotho,” says Magni.  

“We have recently appointed new distributors in the US who will focus on pushing our brands into the region – including Basotho, My Africa, Haven & Earth, and the Aranda Hotel Signature Collection. The Signature Collection is a range of blankets, throws, scatters and runners specifically designed for large hotels and hotel groups. This is the range that we want to market into Africa and the Middle East. That will be a goal for us over the next year or two.”   

Basotho blankets are renowned for their unique layouts. Various symbols, patterns, colours and a famous pin stripe are used to create bold and beautiful designs. Currently, the Basotho range is made up of Seanamarena, Kharetsa, Morena, Motlatsi, and Victoria England designs, each of which can be ordered through the Aranda webstore.  

Continental expansion for the general consumer market across Aranda’s traditional ranges will remain focussed on sub-Sahara Africa because of the diminishing need as a result of the climate further north.  

“The consumption of blankets as a home item and an item of warmth is generally confined to Southern Africa where it gets cold in the winter season. As you move further north, the climate is far more moderate throughout the seasons. There are few high lying areas where it does get cold, but our market is mainly Southern Africa,” Magni confirms.  

African heritage is further woven into the business through Aranda’s more than 600 employees. This group is vital for innovation and development of new ideas, and Magni is keen to continue building a clan culture around work so that the quality African ethos is maintained.  

“I have been involved for the past 18 years and, in terms of how we run the business, we ensure the continuation of the deep-rooted family culture that was introduced by the founding members all those years ago. Generally, we have a long service history at Aranda. The average staff employment period is around 13 years – so we believe we are doing something right,” he says.   

PROUDLY SA  

Not only is the manufacturing and branding around the Aranda product range focussed on South Africa, the material input is also – where possible – dedicated to a local supply chain.  Production takes place across the two facilities – Randfontein and Isithebe. In the early days of business, Aranda concentrated on wool as its raw material but, over time, acrylic fibres have been added to the portfolio.  

“Our head office, primary operations and distribution remains at our factory in Randfontein,” confirms Magni. “Here we do woollen spinning, weaving, fabric finishing, milling, cut-make-and-trim, warehousing and distribution. Our other factory, Associated Spinners, is situated in Isithebe, KwaZulu-Natal. Here we focus on course and fine count open-end spinning as well as yarn and fibre dying.  

“When it comes to sourcing fibre – our main input cost – we source the majority of our wool and all our cotton locally. Acrylic fibre cannot be procured locally as there are no companies producing in South Africa. We source acrylic fibre from Europe, South America or the East.”  

The result of this local emphasis is Aranda maintaining its status as a completely vertically integrated manufacturer. “We manufacture the complete product – from receiving the raw fibre to packaging the finished product. We are truly end-to-end,” says Magni.   

This meticulous dedication to empowering the value chain and achieving a very local offering is one of the key reasons behind Aranda’s success on the international stage. Buying into an African journey is very possible with this exciting business, and that is why Magni is keen to grow distribution in foreign markets.  

“We have a strong export drive but that takes a huge amount of effort. We have a distributor in Germany that services northern Europe and our aim is to gain distributor partners in other parts of the world. It’s very hard to get into markets that are far away on your own. You need to have someone who understands those markets. When you find the right partners, it works well. Price is always a factor and we are finding it difficult to get traction into Europe.”  

With many companies around the world now confident of dealing with conditions brought about by the pandemic, cautious optimism seems to be the universal choice. While 2020 was undoubtedly devastating on many fronts, 2021 is providing opportunities, although the avenues towards them may be slightly different. For Aranda, the fashion names in blankets, much of the channel expansion strategy, devised for implementation last year, can now be pursued.  

As the oldest blanket manufacturer in South Africa, Aranda’s name is already stitched into the history of the country. With growth opportunities once again being chased, Aranda’s goal of becoming internationally renowned is perhaps now more achievable than it has ever been.